80% of the Yazidi areas are still insecure for their return

Shafaq News / The Commissioner of Sinjar District, Mehma Khalil, revealed, on Monday, that 80% of the Yazidi areas are still insecure and not eligible for the return of the displaced to it.

Khalil, in a statement to Shafaq News agency on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, welcomed the United Nations' invitation to the Iraqi government to end the suffering of the Yezidis and address them in line with the internationally accepted human rights principles.

Khalil indicated, "despite the passage of 6 years since the terrible campaign of extermination of the Yazidis by ISIS in Sinjar district, returning home is still tentative because of the lack of security and services and the absence of any encouraging signs by the government".

ISIS invasion to Sinjar caused the displacement of 360 thousand Yazidis from their homes, many of whom still reside in camps Kurdistan region.

Khalil affirmed, "80 percent of the Yazidi regions in Nineveh lack security and stability, and are still languishing under the rubble of sabotage left by ISIS and the wars of liberation".

The Commissioner of Sinjar called for, "meeting the humanitarian demands by the Yezidis and the international community to end their suffering and compensate them for the massive sacrifices they made in blood and money".

ISIS invaded the district of Sinjar, the stronghold of the Yazidi religion, on August 3, 2014, and took control of the area until it was expelled from it the following year by the Peshmerga forces.

Back then, the united nations said that the organization committed genocide against Yezidis. According to Yazidi officials, ISIS killed 1293 people in the early days of Sinjar invasion and about 6 thousand Yazidis were kidnapped, including about 3,000 women and girls who were taken by the organization as a "Sabaya" of sexual slavery.

Although ISIS occupation was ended in 2017, around 2,800 Yazidis are still missing.